Building element



Aug. 25, 1953 w HENRlCHsEN 2,649,626

BUILDING ELEMENT Filed March 20, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet,2

20s 210 W9 1.2 204 g: Y

i2"212 w my p 200 19a JNVENTOR.

WILL/AM HENR/CHSEN ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 25, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

blocks, staves and other similar construction elements.

The conventional type of building elements are costly to manufacture and difficult to handle when being assembled. The explanation of this is found in the fact that both male and female pieces are involved. Thus, for example, when wooden blocks are being formed so that they can be assembled in a unitary interlocking structure, it is necessary that half of the edges be formed into male connections and the other half formed into female connections. It Will be apparent that forming two different types of connections is more costly than the formation of merely one type of connection on all ends. In all cases and particularly in the case of assembling blocks or other four-sided elements, considerable time is lost in selection and adjustment of the elements before they may be interlocked.

The need for improved interlocking building elements has been greatly increased by the advent of prefabricated housing which must be assembled with a minimum of effort and expenditure of time and yet result in strong structures. In addition, present building elements have been found inadequate for the rapid construction of many types of demonstrating models and toys.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an interlocking building element having a simplified construction and which, when assembled with other similar elements, will result in a strong structure being formed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a building element which will interlock with another building element identical to it to form a strong structure.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a building element having a joint portion which will interlock with an identically shaped joint portion of another building element.

Another object of this invention is to form a building element having a plurality of interlocking joint portions, all of which will interlock with any of the joint portions on an identical building element.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the description in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view in elevation of a building block used in the formation of parallel walls;

Figure 2 is a, vertical section through a pair of blocks showing them just before their adjacent sides are joined together;

Figure 3 is a side view of two parallel walls formed by blocks embodying this invention;

Figure 4 is a section taken on a plane indicated at I4I4 in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a partial face view of a wall formed by blocks embodying this invention, showing in particular the construction of a corner;

Figure 6 is a section taken looking down on the plane indicated at Iii-I6 in Figure 5;

Figure '7 is a section taken looking down on the plane indicated at II--I I in Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a section taken looking down on the plane indicated at I 8--I'8 in Figure 5;

Figure 9 is a section taken looking down on the plane indicated at I9I9 in Figure 5;

Figure 10 is a section taken looking down on the plane. indicated at 2Il2IJ in Figure 5;

Figure 11 is a section taken looking down on the plane indicated at 2I2I in Figure 5; and

Figure 12 is a section taken looking down on' the plane indicated at 22--22 in Figure 5.

In Figure 1 there is shown a block I32 embodying this invention. When assembled with other identical blocks, blocks I32 present square inner and outer faces. The block I32 has offset portions I34 and I36 having chamfered faces I38, I39, I40, I4I, I42, I43, I44 and I45. Faces I38, I39, I42 and I43 liein planes which are parallel. Similarly, faces I40, I4I, I44 and I45 lie in parallel planes. In the portion I34 there is a keystone-shaped cut-out portion I46 suitable for the reception of a similarly shaped support member.

The block, if made of wood, may be formed from a piece of Wood of appropriate thickness by the use of a suitable milling cutter and which will produce the desired edge formation of the block. Y

From the manner in which the block I32 is formed, it will be apparent that each side of the block will firmly interlock with the opposite side of an identically formed block in engagement therewith and form a strong joint therebetween.

The manner of joining such blocks is shown in Figure 2. Blocks 2' and 2" which are identical with block I34 are shown placed in similar pos tions with two adjacent sides facing and in position to be interlocked. If the blocks were pushed together, it will be noted that the faces 8 and i2 will abut against faces I6 and 26 and the surface 33 below theprojecting portion 2! will be in contact with the surface 4d of block 2". When these blocks have been thus joined, it will be noted that an extremely strong joint is formed. Thus, if, as shown in Figure 2, the right-hand end of block 2" were tilted upwardly, the block' would tend to rotate about a pointapproximately at 42 resulting in face 20' being forced against face 8' and face H5 being forcedagainst face. 52'. If block 2 were similarly moved in a downwardly direction, the above-mentioned faces will similarly be forced together tending to pivot this time about point approximately at 43. The above illustration of' course, presupposes that the blocks are prevented from moving in a horizontal direction. If the'blocks, as shown in Figure 2, were vertically disposed instead of horizontally i osed, it would be apparent that force of gravity would prevent the upper block from moving downwardly and no additional force would be necessary to keep the blocks together. All of the foregoing results from the fact that the salient dihedral angles of the blocks are the same as the dihedral reentrant angles of the sockets which receive themshown in Figure 3, the block 32 may be usedto construct twoparallel walls Hi8 and i553 which are supportedby a. foundation E52 and a beam Hid In order to mutually strengthen the walls. res and I58, a cross member ltd which keystone-shaped ends I58 maybe secured to both walls by sliding the keystone-shaped members i58 into the cut-out portions of a pair of oppositely disposed blocks !32 before adding any blocks which would obstruct access to the cut-outportions I46.

In addition; Figure 3 shows a small section of roof 558 formed by the use of blocks i62 which cut in a manner similar tothe cutting of block but the blocks 562 are of rectangular form rather than of square form. Similarly, sections of' flooring 554 are shown, this flooring formed in a manner identical with the bio-cl: 13%.-

Figures 5 through 12 show the invention applied to the formation and joinder of a pair of walls which are angularly'disposed with respect to each other so as to form a: continuous structure of great strength; It will be noted that here again offset chamfered faces providing saliout and 'reentra'nt angles are utilized in a manner similar to the above described embodiments of the invention. In particular, these figures show how corner elements and base elements can be formed.

Two walls l3!) which are'at right angles to each other are formed principally of blocks iEZ. Blocks 92 are identical to the block H32 with the exception that they do not have a keystone cut-out portion for the reception of a support member. As shown, blocks !9-2 have offset portions ifi i and 1% and chamfered faces M52200, E82, it i, 286, 2&8, tit and M2. The faces I98, 2%, 2t and 2153 lie in parallel planes. Similarly faces 2%, 2M, 29% and 2l2'lie in parallel planes. The blocks are assembled to form the wall in such manner that a vertical plane can pass through two diagonal corners of each exposed face of the block.

In order to support the lowermost blocks 192, base blocks 2M are used. Each base block 2M has a base portion 2|6 which fits into groove 2E8 in the base 220. Block 2M has upper faces I98, 2%, 295' and 208 which are offset like and exact duplicates of the upper faces I98, 2%, 296 and 268 of. the blocks I92, and, thus interlock with the lower faces of the adjacent blocks [92.

The corner is formed by means of corner elements 222. As clearly shown in Figure 5 and Figures 7 through 12, each element 222 has chamfered faces. I98", 289', 2 12", its", 296", 26. 3", iii!" and 212" which are arranged to interlock with the faces of the blocks 92. The corner elements 222 are, in eifect, formed by splitting in half a block like the block It? securing the halves thus formed to a filler member so that the exposed faces of the halves will lie in pianos at right angles to each. other. In practics, of course, the element 222 may be formed by cutting a suitably preshaped block with a suitable cutter.

A base corner element 22% is almost identical with corner elements 222 in that it has identical chamfered faces 2%, 232", 288', and Zlt' 3. chamfered faces identical with faces 5%, i. its and 2l2". However, element 224 differs from corner element 222 in that it has, in addition, a portion 223 which projects into grooves S8 in base 220.

It will be apparent that this invention may be used in the formation of structures which utilize a plurality of interlocking elements irrespective of the'shape of the elements provided that the elements may be provided with salient and reentrant angles in accordance with this invention. Thus, the elements might be curved and utilized to construct a cylindrical or other rounded structure. For example, the elements are. useful in the construction of water tanks.

It should be noted that innumerable materials are suitable for use in embodiments of this invention. Thus, for example, the blocks could be cast out of cement or metal or any material having the requisite strength necessary for the structure involved; This invention has been found to be useful in building structures of plastic material particularly models and toys. In the case of elements formed out of sheet metal, it will be apparent that this invention has great utility since all of the interlocking portions of a sheet metal element may be formed by the use of the same tool.

It will be apparent that the embodiments of this invention which have been illustrated and described are merely illustrative of this invention and that numerous other embodiments are possible.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a building wall a pair of spaced parallel vertical walls each comprising a plurality of interlocking building elements, said elements each being of flat form and the adjacent faces of each of the elements in a wall having a pair of salient dihedral angles and a reentrant dihedral angle between them so arranged that a salient dihedral angle of each face interlocks with the reentrant angle of the adjacent face of the adjacent ele ment, and a strength member extending between said walls and having ends which interlock with cutout portionsin two of said building elements oppositely disposed in said parallel walls and engage the faces of the said two elements adjacent to said cutout portions.

2. In a building wall a structure including a wall comprising a plurality of interlocking building elements, said elements each being of fiat rectangular form and the adjacent faces of each of the elements having a pair of salient dihedral angles and a reentrant dihedral angle between them so arranged that a salient dihedral angle of each face interlocks with the reentrant angle of the adjacent face of the adjacent angle, each of said elements being positioned in the wall with a diagonal axis extending vertically, and a vertically extending corner element presenting a saw-toothed edge having edge surfaces presenting a pair of salient dihedral angles and a reentrant dihedral angle so that a salient dihedral angle of each saw-toothed face interlocks with the reentrant angle of the adjacent face of the adjacent element.

WILLIAM HENRICHSEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 174,261 Kuhn Feb. 29, 1876 340,559 Conway Apr. 27, 1886 1,201,285 Gray Oct. 17, 1916 1,491,404 Houghton Apr. 22, 1924 2,276,071 Scull Mar. 10, 1942 2,280,071 Hamilton Apr. 21, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 137,570 Great Britain Jan. 22, 1920 36,351 The Netherlands of 1935 

